Get the scoop on farm's ice cream

TUCKED away in the depths of Mid Devon lies a 130-acre farm with a secret. Its seemingly sleepy barns actually house a factory which whips up some of the county's tastiest ice cream.

Devonshire Farmhouse Ice Cream, in Chagford, produces bottled milk, tubs of traditional clotted cream and ice cream.

Run by husband and wife team Samantha and Ian Vincent, the farm has 120 Guernsey cows which produce 300,000 litres of milk a year.

Ian's grandfather started the business in 1954 when he bought the farm and his first herd of Guernsey cows. The ice cream has been in the mix for the past 20 years.

"Originally it was a dairy farm, which produced a small amount of clotted cream for family and friends," said Samantha, 36. "But the cream got such a good reception the family decided to make ice cream too."

Devonshire Farmhouse Ice Cream has scooped awards from Taste of the West and the Ice Cream Association, and Samantha puts the winning streak down to the fresh and natural milk used.

She said: "The great thing about our ice cream is the traceability factor. We use clotted cream and fresh, whole milk from our own cows.

"A great deal of ice cream that is sold in the UK is made with skimmed milk, vegetable oils and a handful of artificial additives. This tastes very poor compared to our ice cream."

Samantha thinks that the way the farm rears the cows is also important. She said: "Each cow's health is monitored daily and the milk is constantly tested.

"The cows go out in the fields every day until the weather gets chilly, then they come indoors again.

"Over the winter they are bedded down in straw.

"We have a regular vet, and if a cow has any problem it is dealt with straight away.

"We have over 100 milk-yielding cows on the farm currently, and this is a manageable number.

"Too many cows and the farmhands do not have time to study them all.

"Our cows are not fed unnecessary supplements, everything they eat is natural and they have constant access to water."

Devonshire Farmhouse Ice Cream employs 14 people, most of whom live in Chagford.

"In the dairy the staff are trained in hygiene and have to take regular food handling certificates," said Samantha. "The kitchens also have to come up to strict hygiene standards.

"Milk and cream are notoriously tricky to control, but as our milk does not have to travel off the farm, it is cooled and cooked within the same day.

"The milk goes straight from the cows in the milking parlour through pipes into the production area

"There it either goes into the tanks for milk or the vat for ice cream.

"We allow the ice cream mix to age for 24 hours, then add it and the various ingredients to a big machine which blends everything together.

"We then pasteurise it and when it is chilled we transfer it to an ageing vat which we slowly turn with a paddle, keeping the area nice and cool."

Ian, 44, then uses an ice cream machine to make the flavours using ingredients that are locally sourced wherever possible. The eggs are free-range and come from Cobley Farm in Crediton, the fruit is from Shute Fruit in Bishopsteignton and the sugar is from Bako, a wholesaler in Cullompton.

Devonshire Farmhouse produces 56 mouth-watering flavours of ice cream, ranging from familiar favourites, such as strawberry and chocolate, to more unusual varieties, such as whiskey with ginger, Turkish Delight and Christmas pudding.

"We don't use any artificial flavours or colours," said Samantha. "So although our ice cream may not look colourful, for instance our strawberry is not a luminous red, it has a very powerful taste."

Earlier this year the company ran a competition with the Echo's sister paper The Western Morning News to invite readers to send in their ideas for new ice cream flavours.

"The competition got a huge response," said Samantha. "We had 70 different entries from local people."

The new flavours were made up and offered to the public to buy at May's Devon County Show.

The winning combination was Pimm's, fruit and mint, and the runners-up were chilli, chocolate chip and lemon zest; lime and white chocolate; and coffee, date and walnut.

Samantha said: "We have all fallen in love with the new flavours. It was great to be given ingredient combinations that we had not thought of.

"Of course traditional flavours, such as vanilla, will always be top sellers."

The ice cream team has discovered that people like added extras in their cones.

"We try to include clusters in the ice cream as people like something they can get their teeth into," said Samantha. "Most of our chocolate flavours have generous chunks, and honeycomb and toffee also go down very well."

Devonshire Farmhouse also offers a range specially for diabetics.

The ice creams are sold in Devonshire Farmhouse's own farm shop in Chagford, Moorland Dairy, and a number of local farm shops including Ullacombe Farm Shop, in Bovey Tracey, Andrew Freemantle, in Clyst St Mary, and Darts Farm, in Topsham. They are also on the desert board at many local pubs.

Tubs of clotted cream can be sent anywhere in the UK with next day delivery. Details: 01647 433170 or visit www.devonshirefarmhouse.co.uk.